Most mega cities face challenges related to traffic congestion, and many solutions have been proposed by a wide range of stakeholders, ranging from the government, academia, public, and industry players (e.g., public transit operators). Such solutions typically focus on either demand management or supply expansion. For example, the government may propose policy changes in road pricing, parking restrictions or pedestrian oriented designs to manage demand for transportation. The government may also provide incentive schemes to encourage flexible work schedules, home-offices, and/or the provision of eco-friendly alternatives. The government may also implement adaptive traffic light controls to manage supply of transportation. However, such solutions often require extensive and fundamental changes in the existing transport infrastructure and policies, which can be quite costly and difficult to implement and enforce.
In recent years, there has been a shift in paradigm from policy enforcement to individual empowerment. For instance, individuals may choose to work from home, share car rides with others (i.e. car pool), or use social media to obtain traffic reports. However, such individual efforts are generally ad-hoc and are not synchronized or coordinated. They are typically not widespread enough to bring about substantial changes to ease traffic congestion problems.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved framework that addresses the above-mentioned challenges.